SKOPJE -- A memorial center dedicated to Holocaust victims was officially opened on March 10 in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, RFE/RL's Balkan Service reports.

Senior Macedonian officials were joined at the ceremony by Albanian President Bamir Topi, Montenegrin President Gjorge Ivanov, and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon.

Ya'alon said he was grateful to the Macedonian government on behalf of Israel for the opening of the center, which is the fourth of its kind in the world. The others are in Jerusalem, Washington, and Berlin.

Ya'alon added that "the Holocaust did not begin with the concentration camps, but with the spread of anti-Semitism and hate speech on the streets. It has taught us that fanatic ideologies cannot be stopped with ignorance and indifference."

The Holocaust victims memorial is a multimedia center with photos, narratives, and video clips showing the life of the Jewish communities in Macedonia and the Balkans and their suffering during World War II.

An estimated 66,000 of Yugoslavia's 80,000 Jews were killed during the Holocaust, most of them at Jasenovac, near the Croatian capital of Zagreb.